Press Release

Tata Power and AutoGrid Expand AI-enabled Smart Energy Management in Mumbai, Supporting India’s Net Zero Goals

  • Aims to engage 55,000 residential consumers and 6,000 large C&I customers to achieve 75 MW of peak capacity reduction within the first six months
  • Plans to scale up the capacity reduction to 200 MW by the summer of 2025

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., February 1, 2023 — Industry-leading Virtual Power Plant (VPP) and Distributed Energy Management System (DERMS) provider AutoGrid today announced a historic new initiative with Tata Power, one of India’s largest integrated power companies, to deploy a demand response program across residential, commercial and industrial customers. This pioneering program will help address peak demand and support India’s clean energy transition.

Serving Tata Power’s customers in Mumbai, India’s most populous city, the new Demand Response Management Program aims to engage 55,000 residential consumers and 6,000 large C&I customers to achieve 75 MW of peak capacity reduction, within the first six months, and then continue to scale up to 200 MW by the summer of 2025.

The two companies’ collaboration started in 2021 with Tata Power Delhi Distribution’s residential customers in Delhi. Based on the success of this engagement, Tata Power significantly expanded the initiative within the Delhi distribution region in 2022. AutoGrid is now extending this program across Tata Power’s distribution territories to include all segments.

In addition to the behavioral demand response (BDR) program, Tata Power will stack on an automated demand response (ADR) program with direct load control assisted by customer participation with its in-house smart plug platform called EZ Home.

With Tata Power’s new demand response program built on the AutoGrid Flex™ platform, consumers can earn incentives by choosing to curtail their load in response to signals relayed via text messages and/or email during times of critical need. Because India’s predominant source of energy is thermal power, aggregating small adjustments by consumers can eliminate the need for costly and heavy-polluting plants.

“An AI-enabled, demand energy response system has the potential to empower customers and make them join the energy transition journey. Tata Power is committed to making distributed energy resources (DERs) mainstream and promoting a culture of hi-tech energy conservation,” said Dr. Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power. “Our partnership with AutoGrid allows us to partner with our customers to assist us in load management and help them save on their energy consumption.”

“India and Tata Power can reach ambitious sustainability goals by leveraging the flexible capacity available by adopting innovative approaches to leverage distributed energy resources,” said Amit Narayan, AutoGrid founder and CEO. “At AutoGrid, we feel privileged and passionate about supporting Tata Power’s visionary efforts to collaborate with its customers through behavioral and AI-driven demand orchestration.”

Over the last two decades, India has seen rapid growth in DERs, including solar, smart meters, electric vehicles (EVs), and EV charging infrastructure. The country has a huge opportunity to harness demand-side flexibility, strengthen the grid, and advance sustainability, but the lack of a singular, scalable program has hindered progress in the past. Additionally, the lack of adequate regulatory approval prevents these resources from being utilized at the incredible scale the India market has to offer. AutoGrid’s platform has been proven to scale DER management programs from thousands to millions and is, therefore, uniquely positioned to take advantage of India’s opportunity.